The Suffolk Education Business Partnership has appointed an experienced education leader as its new chief executive officer. Angela Gant joins the organisation from a senior management role at West Suffolk College.

Mrs Gant has specialised in procuring education engagement programmes, in a career spanning more than 16 years in the sector. Most recently, she has held the post of head of employer responsiveness at West Suffolk College where she led on the development of the college’s in-house apprenticeships programme, realigning it to meet the Qualification Curriculum Framework and the Specification for Apprenticeships Standards in England.

She also transformed the strategic direction of the apprenticeship programmes to ensure they met the needs of young in developing key employability skills and to access future employment opportunities in the county’s main economic growth sectors.

While at West Suffolk College, she developed considerable expertise in the service sector, particularly in tourism and hospitality. She managed the relationship with Ofsted for work place learning and achieved an outstanding report.

Adrian Williams, chairman of the Suffolk EBP, said: “We are delighted to have secured someone of Angela’s calibre as our new CEO. This is a time of great opportunity for our organisation to play a major role in equipping our young people with the skills and experience demanded by employers.

“Angela’s wealth of expertise, vision and connections in the sector will enable us to do this. I would also like to thank Helen Greengrass, who has stepped down as CEO, and acknowledge her very significant contribution.”

Mrs Gant succeeds Helen Greengrass who resigned from the role of CEO earlier in the year but will continue to work for the organisation as a project manager.

: : Colchester-based furniture maker Leo King has decided to change direction and become a sports coach.

The 39-year-old was on the point of being made a director at a household name kitchen furniture maker when he went on holiday to Sweden with his young family and came to the conclusion that sports coaching was where he saw his future.

“I have been coaching eight-year-olds with my son’s football team and it started to dawn on me that I really loved it. I got so much out of it that, in the end, the decision made itself, even though it was so major,” he said.

Leo has now completed his training for his radical career change and has started running A-Star Sports’ multi-sports coaching classes for children as young as two and up to 10 years old on a franchise basis.

He is in charge of the company’s new Colchester and North East Essex territory which includes coastal towns such as Brightlingsea, Clacton, Harwich and Mersea, as well as Stoke-by-Nayland and Tendring, and Colchester.

Leo, who has sons aged nine and seven and a four-year-old daughter, said: “My decision was between carrying on doing what I have been doing for years, working in the corporate world and stressing about achieving targets, or opening horizons for children and promoting their well-being. I also think it is important for children to have appropriate male role models.”

He added: “Once I have the Colchester and North East Essex franchise up and running, it will definitely be one of my aims to take on more franchises and to spread the word about the life-enhancing benefits of sport for children.

“Gary and Sharon Bassett, the co-founders of A-Star Sports really believe in what they’re doing, so it is quite inspiring. They have created excellent systems and procedures and I have seen for myself just how efficient they are at running a business.”

: : Ipswich-based PR agency Genesis PR has appointed two new employees, Abbie Smith and Chloe Atkins, who are both local to Suffolk.

Abbie Smith, who joins Genesis as an account manager, is a journalism graduate from the University of Lincoln and has worked in the media and PR field since 2010, most recently as press and PR officer at Ormiston Children and Families Trust.

Abbie said: “I am thrilled to be joining the team at Genesis and am really excited to be making the move from in-house to agency PR. I’m keen to develop the skills, knowledge and experience that I’ve picked up in my career so far, and I think an agency like Genesis is going to be the ideal place to do that.”

Chloe Atkins, who joins as an account executive, graduated from University Campus Suffolk (UCS) in Ipswich with a First Class BA Honours degree in Event and Tourism Management. “My degree involved various elements of PR, from theoretical modules to organising and promoting events. I am proud of my achievements at UCS but am keen to get out there and apply my degree to practice,” she said.

Chloe attended East Bergholt High School and Suffolk New College before studying for her degree in Ipswich, while Abbie studied for both her GCSEs and A Levels at Stowupland High School near Stowmarket.

Director Penny Arbuthnot said: “I am thrilled we are able to appoint Abbie and Chloe who are already proving to be great assets to our team.”